November 05, 2012
The Australian Fisheries Management Authority and their CEO, James Findlay, have congratulated Austral Fisheries for their 2012 Seafood Champion award, received last month at the International Seafood Summit in Hong Kong. The update below was taken from the AFMA website:
The Australian Fisheries Management Authority has congratulated Austral Fisheries on being awarded the SeaWeb 2012 Seafood Champion award at the 10th International Seafood Summit in Hong Kong.
The Seafood Champions award recognises outstanding leadership in improving sustainable practices and promoting environmentally responsible seafood.
According to SeaWeb, Seafood Champions exemplify outstanding contributions in the context of environmental, social, and economic sustainability and advance sustainable seafood beyond best practices.
AFMA CEO Dr James Findlay said that for many years Austral Fisheries has been a leader in terms of sustainable fishing practices within the Australian fishing industry and to be recognised as a world leader is an immense achievement.
“We’re very proud of the responsible and sustainable fishing industry here in Australia and Austral Fisheries is a fine example”, Dr Findlay said.
“I congratulate Austral Fisheries wholeheartedly – I know they have worked extremely hard to exemplify sustainable fishing practices and this award is well-deserved.
“Australians can be confident in the sustainability of our local seafood when we have operators like Austral leading the way for the Australian fishing industry.”
In winning the award Austral successfully demonstrated its commitment to the highest global environmental standards in fisheries resources management, shown by independent certification by the Marine Stewardship Council for the three Antarctic fisheries in which the company operates.
Austral has also been instrumental in creating and supporting industry bodies committed to sustainable fishing practices. Austral Fisheries initiated COLTO (the Coalition of Legal Toothfish Operators), a global industry coalition created in 2003 to eliminate illegal fishing for toothfish, and to promote sustainable toothfish fisheries. Austral has also been significant supporters of Australian industry groups such as the Commonwealth Fisheries Association, promoting sustainable, healthy and profitable fisheries.
Austral is actively engaged in research partnerships with the Australian Government on marine issues, including development of mitigation measures to further reduce the effects of fishing on the marine environment.